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Heggli I, Mengis T, Laux C, Opitz L, Herger N, Menghini D, Schuepbach R, Farshad-Amacker N, Brunner F, Fields A, Farshad M, Distler O, Dudli S. Low back pain patients with Modic type 1 changes exhibit distinct bacterial and non-bacterial subtypes. Osteoarthr Cartil Open 2024; 6:100434. [PMID: 38322145 PMCID: PMC10844677 DOI: 10.1016/j.ocarto.2024.100434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Objectives Modic type 1 changes (MC1) are vertebral endplate bone marrow (BM) lesions observed on magnetic resonance images in sub-populations of chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. The etiopathogenesis remains unknown and treatments that modify the underlying pathomechanisms do not exist. We hypothesized that two biological MC1 subtypes exist: a bacterial and a non-bacterial. This would have important implications for developing treatments targeting the underlying pathomechanisms. Methods Intervertebral disc (IVD) samples adjacent to MC1 (n = 34) and control (n = 11) vertebrae were collected from patients undergoing spinal fusion. Cutibacterium acnes (C.acnes) genome copy numbers (GCNs) were quantified in IVD tissues with 16S qPCR, transcriptomic signatures and cytokine profiles were determined in MC1 and control BM by RNA sequencing and immunoassay. Finally, we assessed if C.acnes GCNs are associated with blood plasma cytokines. Results IVD tissues from control levels had <870 C.acnes GCNs/gram IVD. MC1-adjacent IVDs had either "low" (<870) or "high" (>870) C.acnes GCNs. MC1 patients with "high" C.acnes GCNs had upregulated innate immune cell signatures (neutrophil, macrophage/monocyte) and pro-inflammatory cytokines related to neutrophil and macrophage/monocyte function in the BM, consistent with a host defense against bacterium. MC1 patients with "low" C.acnes GCNs had increased adaptive immune cell signatures (T-and B-cell) in the BM and elevated IL-13 blood plasma levels. Conclusion Our study provides the first evidence for the existence of bacterial (C.acnes "high") and non-bacterial (C.acnes "low") subtypes in MC1 patients with CLBP. This supports the need for different treatment strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- I. Heggli
- Center of Experimental Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology, Balgrist University Hospital, Balgrist Campus, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - T. Mengis
- Center of Experimental Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology, Balgrist University Hospital, Balgrist Campus, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - C.J. Laux
- Department of Orthopedics, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - L. Opitz
- Functional Genomics Center Zurich, University and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - N. Herger
- Center of Experimental Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology, Balgrist University Hospital, Balgrist Campus, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - D. Menghini
- Center of Experimental Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology, Balgrist University Hospital, Balgrist Campus, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - R. Schuepbach
- Unit of Clinical and Applied Research, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - N.A. Farshad-Amacker
- Department of Radiology, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - F. Brunner
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology, Balgrist University Hospital, Balgrist Campus, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - A.J. Fields
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - M. Farshad
- Department of Orthopedics, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - O. Distler
- Center of Experimental Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology, Balgrist University Hospital, Balgrist Campus, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - S. Dudli
- Center of Experimental Rheumatology, Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rheumatology, Balgrist University Hospital, Balgrist Campus, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Di Vara S, Guerrera S, Menghini D, Scibelli F, Lupi E, Valeri G, Vicari S. Characterizing individual differences in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder: a descriptive study. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1323787. [PMID: 38476386 PMCID: PMC10927760 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1323787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a higher prevalence in male than in female participants. Recent studies have hypothesized the presence of different phenotypes in male and female participants with ASD. The present study aims to assess possible sex differences in cognitive and adaptive functioning, symptomatology of ASD, and psychopathological comorbidities in a large sample of children and adolescents with ASD. Methods The study included a total of 2,146 children and adolescents diagnosed with ASD, comprising 1785 boys (mean age 7.12 ± 3.69 years) and 361 girls (mean age 6.25 ± 3.30 years). The age of the participants ranged from 1.35 to 19.05 years (mean age 9.98 ± 3.64). The study sought to include all children and adolescents diagnosed with Autism or ASD. Results Present results showed that girls with ASD had lower IQs than boys but similar adaptive functioning. The severity of symptoms of ASD was greater in boys than in girls, as were scores on psychopathological measures. With increasing age, boys with ASD showed greater impairment in social communication skills than girls and increased psychopathological comorbidities. Older girls showed fewer restricted and repetitive behaviors. Discussion Exploring phenotypic differences in children and adolescents with ASD fosters an understanding of subtle diagnostic facets that may go unrecognized, allowing for increasingly individualized and tailored interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- S. Di Vara
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - S. Guerrera
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - D. Menghini
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - F. Scibelli
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - E. Lupi
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - G. Valeri
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - S. Vicari
- Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
- Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Catholic University, Rome, Italy
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Schumacher I, Menghini D, Ovinnikov S, Hauenstein M, Fankhauser N, Zipfel C, Hörtensteiner S, Aubry S. Evolution of chlorophyll degradation is associated with plant transition to land. Plant J 2022; 109:1473-1488. [PMID: 34931727 PMCID: PMC9306834 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Revised: 12/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Chlorophyll, the central pigment of photosynthesis, is highly photo‐active and degraded enzymatically during leaf senescence. Merging comparative genomics and metabolomics, we evaluate the extent to which the chlorophyll detoxification pathway has evolved in Viridiplantae. We argue that cytosolic detoxification of phyllobilins in particular was a critical process to the green lineage’s transition to land.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Schumacher
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
| | - Damian Menghini
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
| | - Serguei Ovinnikov
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
| | - Mareike Hauenstein
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
| | - Niklaus Fankhauser
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
| | - Cyril Zipfel
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
| | - Stefan Hörtensteiner
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
| | - Sylvain Aubry
- Department of Plant and Microbial BiologyUniversity of ZürichZürich8008Switzerland
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4
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Menghini D, Aubry S. De novo transcriptome assembly data of the marine bioluminescent dinoflagellate Pyrocystis lunula. Data Brief 2021; 37:107254. [PMID: 34277902 PMCID: PMC8267542 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2021.107254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 06/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Pyrocystis lunula is a unicellular bioluminescing dinoflagellates. While the mechanisms and genes underlying bioluminescence and luciferase synthesis are understood in many bioluminescing clades, it remains unknown in dinoflagellates. We took advantage of merging long and short reads to provide here a de novo assembly of P. lunula transcriptome. A total of 975 million filtered paired-end reads were obtained and assembled into 155,716 contigs corresponding to putative transcripts that were functionally annotated. This dataset will be valuable for improving our understanding of protist's biology and is accessible via NCBI BioProject (PRJNA727555).
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Affiliation(s)
- Damian Menghini
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Sylvain Aubry
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008, Zürich, Switzerland
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5
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Süssenbacher I, Menghini D, Scherzer G, Salinger K, Erhart T, Moser S, Vergeiner C, Hörtensteiner S, Kräutler B. Cryptic chlorophyll breakdown in non-senescent green Arabidopsis thaliana leaves. Photosynth Res 2019; 142:69-85. [PMID: 31172355 DOI: 10.1007/s11120-019-00649-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2019] [Accepted: 05/20/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Chlorophyll (Chl) breakdown is a diagnostic visual process of leaf senescence, which furnishes phyllobilins (PBs) by the PAO/phyllobilin pathway. As Chl breakdown disables photosynthesis, it appears to have no role in photoactive green leaves. Here, colorless PBs were detected in green, non-senescent leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana. The PBs from the green leaves had structures entirely consistent with the PAO/phyllobilin pathway and the mutation of a single Chl catabolic enzyme completely abolished PBs with the particular modification. Hence, the PAO/phyllobilin pathway was active in the absence of visible senescence and expression of genes encoding Chl catabolic enzymes was observed in green Arabidopsis leaves. PBs accumulated to only sub-% amounts compared to the Chls present in the green leaves, excluding a substantial contribution of Chl breakdown from rapid Chl turnover associated with photosystem II repair. Indeed, Chl turnover was shown to involve a Chl a dephytylation and Chl a reconstitution cycle. However, non-recyclable pheophytin a is also liberated in the course of photosystem II repair, and is proposed here to be scavenged and degraded to the observed PBs. Hence, a cryptic form of the established pathway of Chl breakdown is indicated to play a constitutive role in photoactive leaves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iris Süssenbacher
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Centre of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80/82, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Damian Menghini
- Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Gerhard Scherzer
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Centre of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80/82, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Kathrin Salinger
- Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Theresia Erhart
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Centre of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80/82, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Simone Moser
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Centre of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80/82, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Clemens Vergeiner
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Centre of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80/82, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Stefan Hörtensteiner
- Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zürich, Zollikerstrasse 107, 8008, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Bernhard Kräutler
- Institute of Organic Chemistry and Centre of Molecular Biosciences, University of Innsbruck, Innrain 80/82, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria.
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Lazzaro G, Costanzo F, Varuzza C, Rossi S, Vicari S, Menghini D. The role of individual reading variability on tdcs effects in children and adolescents with dyslexia. Brain Stimul 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2018.12.618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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Menghini D, Armando M, Calcagni M, Napolitano C, Pasqualetti P, Sergeant JA, Pani P, Vicari S. The influence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder on Executive Functions in children with ADHD. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2018; 268:349-357. [PMID: 28766128 DOI: 10.1007/s00406-017-0831-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2016] [Accepted: 07/24/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
The present study was aimed at verifying whether the presence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) affects executive functions in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Two groups of children with ADHD were selected for the study according to the presence or absence of GAD. The first group of 28 children with ADHD with GAD (mean age: 9 ± 1.2; males/females: 24/4) was matched for gender, age, IQ, psychiatric comorbidity with a second group of 29 children with ADHD without GAD (mean age: 8.8 ± 0.7; males/females: 26/3). The two groups with ADHD were compared to 28 typically developing children (mean age: 8.3 ± 1.3; males/females: 23/5) on different measures involving processes especially important in inhibitory control such as rule maintenance, stimulus detection, action selection and action execution. Our results indicated that, differently from children with ADHD with GAD, only the group with ADHD without GAD showed a deficit in inhibitory control. Comorbid subgroups should be differentiated, especially, to develop specific and efficient therapeutic interventions in ADHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Menghini
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy.
| | - M Armando
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy.,Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva School of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - M Calcagni
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy
| | - C Napolitano
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy
| | - P Pasqualetti
- Service of Medical Statistics and Information Technology (SeSMIT), Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Rome, Italy.,Language and Communication Across Modalities Laboratory (LACAM), Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC-CNR), Rome, Italy
| | - J A Sergeant
- Department of Clinical Neuropsychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - P Pani
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
| | - S Vicari
- Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Department of Neuroscience, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165, Rome, Italy
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8
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Alfieri P, Menghini D, Marotta L, De Peppo L, Ravà L, Salvaguardia F, Varuzza C, Vicari S. A comparison between linguistic skills and socio-communicative abilities in Williams syndrome. J Intellect Disabil Res 2017; 61:866-876. [PMID: 28745018 DOI: 10.1111/jir.12401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2016] [Revised: 05/25/2017] [Accepted: 06/29/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) show a disharmonic linguistic profile with a clear pattern of strengths and weaknesses. Despite their sociable nature, atypical socio-communicative abilities and deficits in communication and relationship with others have been found. AIM The aim of the present study was to investigate whether linguistic skills (LS) were in line with the pragmatic and social use of language and the cognitive development of 32 individuals with WS (18 boys and 14 girls) with a mean chronological age of 12.3 (±4.4) years. To examine the relationship between language and mental age (MA) at different ages, the issue was investigated in children and adolescents/young adults with WS. METHOD Measures of LS, including lexical and morphosyntactic competences, and adaptive socio-communicative abilities (ASCA), pertaining to the use of language in daily living social context, were compared with the MA of participants. In a second step, participants with WS were split into two subgroups based on age, and the relationship between LS, ASCA and MA was studied. RESULTS Although expressive and receptive LS were generally found to be in line with or better than would be expected for MA, specific deficits in receptive ASCA were documented. LS and ASCA appeared to have a different evolution during the different time windows considered. CONCLUSIONS Our results underlined the importance of assessing linguistic abilities in the context of adaptive functioning, to guide educational and rehabilitative strategies for individuals with WS.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Alfieri
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - D Menghini
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - L Marotta
- Department of Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - L De Peppo
- Psychology Department, Libera Università Maria SS. Assunta, Rome, Italy
| | - L Ravà
- Epidemiology Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - F Salvaguardia
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - C Varuzza
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - S Vicari
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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9
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Piccini G, Menghini D, D'Andrea A, Caciolo C, Pontillo M, Armando M, Perrino F, Mandolesi L, Salerni A, Buzzonetti L, Digilio MC, Zampino G, Tartaglia M, Benassi M, Vicari S, Alfieri P. Visual perception skills: a comparison between patients with Noonan syndrome and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Genes Brain Behav 2017; 16:627-634. [PMID: 28378436 DOI: 10.1111/gbb.12381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2016] [Revised: 03/14/2017] [Accepted: 03/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Ventral and dorsal streams are visual pathways deputed to transmit information from the photoreceptors of the retina to the lateral geniculate nucleus and then to the primary visual cortex (V1). Several studies investigated whether one pathway is more vulnerable than the other during development, and whether these streams develop at different rates. The results are still discordant. The aim of the present study was to understand the functionality of the dorsal and the ventral streams in two populations affected by different genetic disorders, Noonan syndrome (NS) and 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS), and explore the possible genotype-phenotype relationships. 'Form coherence' abilities for the ventral stream and 'motion coherence' abilities for the dorsal stream were evaluated in 19 participants with NS and 20 participants with 22q11.2DS. Collected data were compared with 55 age-matched controls. Participants with NS and 22q11.2DS did not differ in the form coherence task, and their performance was significantly lower than that of controls. However, in the motion coherence task, the group with NS and controls did not differ, and both obtained significantly higher scores than the group with 22q11.2DS. Our findings indicate that deficits in the dorsal stream are related to the specific genotype, and that in our syndromic groups the ventral stream is more vulnerable than the dorsal stream.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Piccini
- Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - D Menghini
- Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - A D'Andrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technologies, University "G.d'Annunzio", Chieti-Pescara, Italy
| | - C Caciolo
- Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - M Pontillo
- Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - M Armando
- Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - F Perrino
- Center for Rare Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Polo Salute Donna e Bambino, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, Catholic University, Rome, Italy
| | - L Mandolesi
- Psychology Department, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - A Salerni
- Institute of Ophthalmology, Catholic University, Rome, Italy
| | - L Buzzonetti
- Ophthalmology Department, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - M C Digilio
- Genetics and Rare Diseases Research Division, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - G Zampino
- Center for Rare Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Polo Salute Donna e Bambino, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli, Catholic University, Rome, Italy
| | - M Tartaglia
- Genetics and Rare Diseases Research Division, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - M Benassi
- Psychology Department, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - S Vicari
- Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
| | - P Alfieri
- Department of Neuroscience, Child Neuropsychiatric Unit, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are characterized by social communication difficulties and behavioural rigidity. Difficulties in learning from others are one of the most devastating features of this group of conditions. Nevertheless, the nature of learning difficulties in ASDs is still unclear. Given the relevance of implicit learning for social and communicative functioning, a link has been hypothesized between ASDs and implicit learning deficit. However, studies that have employed formal testing of implicit learning in ASDs provided mixed results. METHOD We undertook a systematic search of studies that examined implicit learning in ASDs using serial reaction time (SRT), alternating serial reaction time (ASRT), pursuit rotor (PR), and contextual cueing (CC) tasks, and synthesized the data using meta-analysis. A total of 11 studies were identified, representing data from 407 individuals with ASDs and typically developing comparison participants. RESULTS The results indicate that individuals with ASDs do not differ in any task considered [SRT and ASRT task: standardized mean difference (SMD) -0.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.71 to 0.36; PR task: SMD -0.34, 95% CI -1.04 to 0.36; CC task: SMD 0.27, 95% CI -0.07 to 0.60]. CONCLUSIONS Based on our synthesis of the existing literature, we conclude that individuals with ASDs can learn implicitly, supporting the hypothesis that implicit learning deficits do not represent a core feature in ASDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Foti
- Department of Psychology,'Sapienza' University of Rome,Italy
| | - F De Crescenzo
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department,'Children's Hospital Bambino Gesu',Rome,Italy
| | - G Vivanti
- Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, School of Psychological Science,La Trobe University,Melbourne, VIC,Australia
| | - D Menghini
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department,'Children's Hospital Bambino Gesu',Rome,Italy
| | - S Vicari
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Neuroscience Department,'Children's Hospital Bambino Gesu',Rome,Italy
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11
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Foti F, Menghini D, Petrosini L, Vicari S, Valerio G, Orlandi E, Crinò A, Spera S, De Bartolo P, Mandolesi L. Explorative function in Prader-Willi syndrome analyzed through an ecological spatial task. Res Dev Disabil 2015; 38:97-107. [PMID: 25575283 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.11.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2014] [Accepted: 11/28/2014] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
This study was aimed at evaluating the spatial abilities in individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) by using an ecological large-scale task with multiple rewards. To evaluate the extent of spatial deficit in PWS individuals, we compare their performances with those of individuals with Williams Syndrome (WS) in which the spatial deficits have been widely described. Participants had to explore an open space to search nine rewards placed in buckets arranged according to three spatial configurations: a Cross, a 3×3 Matrix and a Cluster composed by three groups of three buckets each. PWS individuals exhibited an explorative deficit in Cluster and Cross configurations, while WS participants in Matrix and Cross configurations. The findings indicate that the structural affordances of the environment influence the explorative strategies and can be related to how spatial information is processed.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Foti
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza", Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Rome, Italy; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation (CERC), Via del Fosso di Fiorano 65, 00143 Rome, Italy
| | - D Menghini
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, "Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù", Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165 Rome, Italy
| | - L Petrosini
- Department of Psychology, University "Sapienza", Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Rome, Italy; IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation (CERC), Via del Fosso di Fiorano 65, 00143 Rome, Italy
| | - S Vicari
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, "Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù", Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165 Rome, Italy
| | - G Valerio
- Department of Motor Science and Wellness, University "Parthenope", Via Medina 40, 80133 Naples, Italy
| | - E Orlandi
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, "Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù", Piazza Sant'Onofrio 4, 00165 Rome, Italy
| | - A Crinò
- Pediatric and Autoimmune Endocrine Disease Unit, "Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù", Via Torre di Palidoro, 00050 Fiumicino (Rome), Italy
| | - S Spera
- Pediatric and Autoimmune Endocrine Disease Unit, "Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù", Via Torre di Palidoro, 00050 Fiumicino (Rome), Italy
| | - P De Bartolo
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation (CERC), Via del Fosso di Fiorano 65, 00143 Rome, Italy; Faculty of Formation Science, University "Guglielmo Marconi", Via Plinio 44, 00193 Rome, Italy
| | - L Mandolesi
- IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation (CERC), Via del Fosso di Fiorano 65, 00143 Rome, Italy; Department of Motor Science and Wellness, University "Parthenope", Via Medina 40, 80133 Naples, Italy.
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Foti F, Mazzone L, Menghini D, De Peppo L, Federico F, Postorino V, Baumgartner E, Valeri G, Petrosini L, Vicari S. Learning by observation in children with autism spectrum disorder. Psychol Med 2014; 44:2437-2447. [PMID: 24433947 DOI: 10.1017/s003329171300322x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Observing another person performing a complex action accelerates the observer's acquisition of the same action and limits the time-consuming process of learning by trial and error. Learning by observation requires specific skills such as attending, imitating and understanding contingencies. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit deficits in these skills. METHOD The performance of 20 ASD children was compared with that of a group of typically developing (TD) children matched for chronological age (CA), IQ and gender on tasks of learning of a visuomotor sequence by observation or by trial and error. Acquiring the correct sequence involved three phases: a detection phase (DP), in which participants discovered the correct sequence and learned how to perform the task; an exercise phase (EP), in which they reproduced the sequence until performance was error free; and an automatization phase (AP), in which by repeating the error-free sequence they became accurate and speedy. RESULTS In the DP, ASD children were impaired in detecting a sequence by trial and error only when the task was proposed as first, whereas they were as efficient as TD children in detecting a sequence by observation. In the EP, ASD children were as efficient as TD children. In the AP, ASD children were impaired in automatizing the sequence. Although the positive effect of learning by observation was evident, ASD children made a high number of imitative errors, indicating marked tendencies to hyperimitate. CONCLUSIONS These findings demonstrate the imitative abilities of ASD children although the presence of imitative errors indicates an impairment in the control of imitative behaviours.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Foti
- Department of Psychology,Sapienza University of Rome,Italy
| | - L Mazzone
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience,Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital,Rome,Italy
| | - D Menghini
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience,Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital,Rome,Italy
| | - L De Peppo
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience,Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital,Rome,Italy
| | - F Federico
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology,Sapienza University of Rome,Italy
| | - V Postorino
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience,Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital,Rome,Italy
| | - E Baumgartner
- Department of Developmental and Social Psychology,Sapienza University of Rome,Italy
| | - G Valeri
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience,Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital,Rome,Italy
| | - L Petrosini
- Department of Psychology,Sapienza University of Rome,Italy
| | - S Vicari
- Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Neuroscience,Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital,Rome,Italy
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Pani P, Menghini D, Napolitano C, Calcagni M, Armando M, Sergeant JA, Vicari S. Proactive and reactive control of movement are differently affected in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children. Res Dev Disabil 2013; 34:3104-3111. [PMID: 23886755 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.06.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2013] [Revised: 06/20/2013] [Accepted: 06/21/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder children are impaired in the ability to interrupt an ongoing action in relation to a sudden change in the environment (reactive control, measured by stop signal reaction time, SSRT). Less investigated is the ability to control the response when it is known in advance that it will be required to stop (proactive control, measured by change in Reaction time, RT). The study is aimed at exploring both the reactive and the proactive inhibitory control in a group of ADHD children compared to a group of age-matched controls. ADHD children (N=28) and Controls (N=28) performed 4 tasks: 2 tasks required to respond to the appearance of the go-signals (go task and nostop task) and 2 tasks to respond to the go signals in a context in which sometimes a restrain or suppression of the response was required (go-nogo task and stop task). ADHD children showed a longer SSRT compared to controls. Both groups showed an increment in RT by comparing the go-nogo to the go task and an increment in RT and SD by comparing the stop to the nostop task. ADHD children showed higher intra-individual variability (SD) compared to controls only in the stop and nostop task. ADHD children showed impaired reactive control but preserved proactive control, and the physical appearance of the go signal affected their reaction times intra-individual variability. A comparison between the reactive and proactive controls helps in defining neuropsychological profiles of ADHD children and can inspires therapeutic behavioral-cognitive strategies for response control.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Pani
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy
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14
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Foti F, Petrosini L, Cutuli D, Menghini D, Chiarotti F, Vicari S, Mandolesi L. Explorative function in Williams syndrome analyzed through a large-scale task with multiple rewards. Res Dev Disabil 2011; 32:972-985. [PMID: 21353462 DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2011.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2011] [Revised: 02/01/2011] [Accepted: 02/01/2011] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate spatial function in subjects with Williams syndrome (WS) by using a large-scale task with multiple rewards and comparing the spatial abilities of WS subjects with those of mental age-matched control children. In the present spatial task, WS participants had to explore an open space to search nine rewards placed in buckets arranged according to three spatial configurations: a cross, a 3 × 3 matrix and a cluster composed by three groups of three buckets each. The findings demonstrate that WS individuals were impaired in efficiently exploring the environment and in building cognitive spatial maps. In exploring the three spatial configurations, they performed worse than control subjects on all parameters analyzed. In fact, WS individuals took more time to complete the task, made more errors, performed a reduced number of error-free trials, displayed lower search efficiency, exhibited shorter spatial spans, showed a higher number of no-visits and displayed marked tendencies to perseverate and to neglect some buckets. Furthermore, WS individuals showed disorganized explorative patterns in comparison to control children. WS influenced performances differentially as a specific effect of the susceptibility of the configurations to being explored in a principled way. In the cross configuration that had strong spatial constraints, both groups exhibited their worst performances. In the matrix configuration, the altered explorative strategies of the WS subjects primarily affected their central exploration. The performances in the cluster configuration indicated that chunking was a strategy of strength in both TD and WS groups. In conclusion, WS individuals' deficits exhibited in the present explorative test may be considered an index of their difficulties in spatial orientation and motion perception displayed in the real world. The marked impairment in spatial information processing is discussed in neuro-anatomical alterations reported in WS.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Foti
- Department of Psychology, University Sapienza of Rome, Rome, Italy.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND The present study was aimed at investigating working memory (WM) and executive functions capacities in individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) as compared with mental-age matched typically developing (TD) children. METHOD In order to serve the study goal, a sizeable battery of tasks tapping WM as well as attention, memory, planning, categorisation, shifting and inhibition abilities was administered to 15 individuals with WS (mean chronological age of 19.11 and mean mental age of 6.10), and to a group of 15 TD children (mean chronological age of 7.6 and mean mental age of 6.9). RESULTS Participants with WS showed deficits in both verbal and visual-spatial modalities for selective and sustained attention, short-term memory and WM, planning and inhibition. However, considering categorisation and shifting abilities, relatively unimpaired performance emerged on those tasks relying on verbal materials. CONCLUSIONS These findings are both relevant to improve our knowledge about certain qualitative aspects of the anomalous cognitive development in WS as well as for its eventual clinical implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Menghini
- Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù, Rome, Italy
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Menghini D, Finzi A, Benassi M, Bolzani R, Facoetti A, Giovagnoli S, Ruffino M, Vicari S. Different underlying neurocognitive deficits in developmental dyslexia: A comparative study. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:863-72. [PMID: 19909762 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 149] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2009] [Revised: 11/02/2009] [Accepted: 11/05/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Mandolesi L, Petrosini L, Menghini D, Addona F, Vicari S. Children’ s radial arm maze performance as a function of age and sex. Int J Dev Neurosci 2009; 27:789-97. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2009.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2009] [Revised: 08/03/2009] [Accepted: 08/20/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- L. Mandolesi
- IRCCS Santa Lucia FoundationRomeItaly
- University of Naples “Parthenope”Italy
| | - L. Petrosini
- IRCCS Santa Lucia FoundationRomeItaly
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of Rome “La Sapienza”Italy
| | - D. Menghini
- IRCCS, Children's Hospital “Bambino Gesù”RomeItaly
| | - F. Addona
- IRCCS, Children's Hospital “Bambino Gesù”RomeItaly
- University LUMSARomeItaly
| | - S. Vicari
- IRCCS, Children's Hospital “Bambino Gesù”RomeItaly
- University LUMSARomeItaly
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Although reading abilities play a fundamental role in the acquisition of personal autonomy, up until now studies investigating these abilities in Down syndrome (DS) are aimed at defining educational or rehabilitation acquisition. However, studies describing the relationship between reading and phonological awareness in individuals with DS by comparing them to typically developing children often report contradictory results. The aim of this study is to explore reading and phonological awareness skills in a group of participants with DS. METHODS We administered reading and phonological processing ability tests to 17 DS individuals and to 17 reading-age-matched typically developing children. RESULTS Concerning reading abilities, participants with DS were impaired on non-word reading and on interpreting accuracy of non-homographic homophones. Their passage comprehension was also limited. Comparable ability was reported in the two groups on irregular word reading and passage reading tasks. Regarding phonological awareness ability, individuals with DS showed lower performances on several tasks, such as rhyming, deletion and syllable segmentation. CONCLUSIONS People with DS show particular failure on non-word reading, a task where correct decoding is only partially influenced by lexical access or semantic context. Correct non-word reading mainly requires the use of the grapheme-phoneme conversion process. This process is based on the efficiency of phonological awareness abilities, which are partly impaired in people with DS. The rehabilitative implications of these findings are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Verucci
- Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, IRCCS, Rome, Italy
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of specific types of tasks on the efficiency of implicit procedural learning in the presence of developmental dyslexia (DD). METHODS Sixteen children with DD (mean (SD) age 11.6 (1.4) years) and 16 matched normal reader controls (mean age 11.4 (1.9) years) were administered two tests (the Serial Reaction Time test and the Mirror Drawing test) in which implicit knowledge was gradually acquired across multiple trials. Although both tests analyse implicit learning abilities, they tap different competencies. The Serial Reaction Time test requires the development of sequential learning and little (if any) procedural learning, whereas the Mirror Drawing test involves fast and repetitive processing of visuospatial stimuli but no acquisition of sequences. RESULTS The children with DD were impaired on both implicit learning tasks, suggesting that the learning deficit observed in dyslexia does not depend on the material to be learned (with or without motor sequence of response action) but on the implicit nature of the learning that characterises the tasks. CONCLUSION Individuals with DD have impaired implicit procedural learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Vicari
- Servizio di Neurologia e Riabilitazione, IRCCS, Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù, Santa Marinella, Rome, Italy.
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